m. On the ground lay a
dead bushbuck ewe.

"`_Diane chasseresse_' again," cried the former, gaily. "Neat shot too.
Going like the wind."

"Well, you made me do it, you know," protested Edala. "I said I didn't
want to shoot any more just yet."

"Of course," laughed Elvesdon. "It was the first opportunity I've had
of witnessing your prowess, and I preferred that to your witnessing my
lack of it."

As a matter of fact the speaker was a first-rate shot, but there were
days when he was `off'--and this was one of them, he said.

"Well, it's better than nothing," pronounced Thornhill. "Still, we
ought to have got more out of there. We'll take the next kloof down,
then sweep round for home."

"All right," cried Edala. "Now Mr Elvesdon, we'll lay _voer_ again,
and this time I'm really going to see you miss."

"That'll be a new and delightful experience," said Elvesdon with his
usual imperturbability. As a matter of fact he meant every word he
said. He would have this girl to himself for the best part of another
hour, in the sweet sunshine of the golden afternoon. What did he care
for the business of the day. He could always get sport--but this--no.

So the pair started off once more by a circuitous way, to reach the
bottom of the kloof where they should conceal themselves. Thornhill,
watching them, felt well satisfied. Things were going just as he would
have them. Things sometimes went that way, and when they did there was
no point in interfering with them, or hurrying them from outside. At
any rate such was his philosophy.

"Now, Evelyn, I daresay Prior will take care of you," he said. "This
kloof is confoundedly tangled and difficult. There are _klompies_ of
_haakdorrn_ too, here and there, which would tear that pretty skirt of
yours into tatters."

"But--are you going to drive on again? You don't ever get a shot down
there in that thick bush," she urged, half reproachfully.

"Oh, don't I? I've an idea I shall this time. You get up along the top
side with Prior."

The fell significance of his words was apparent only to his own mind, as
indeed how should it be otherwise? Evelyn obeyed the order
unquestioningly. She only said, in a half undertone, "You take care
that everybody else gets the lion's share of the fun, anyhow."

The foremost pair were hurrying along the ridge, now cantering, now
walking. At length they reached their allotted station at the bottom of
the kloof. The latter was